New Mercedes-AMG A45 S Review: Better Than Ever? | 4K

foreign the king of the hot hatches is back yes this is the brand new 2024 Mercedes AMG a45s you want to know what it’s like don’t you well I’ll put you out your misery it is [Music] a lot like the old one [Music] and you might think that’s a huge shame especially as this might be the last ever A45 at least in its current form but the Bodywork is exactly the same the engine is the same two liter four-cylinder power and torque are the same top speed is the same but sometimes same isn’t really the end of the world same is actually pretty good in this case because I have never got into an AMG a45s and thought this car needs more power it’s just not going to happen it’s got a monster of an engine two liter making 420 horsepower 500 newton meters this thing absolutely flies [Applause] so it’s still fasting but surely 

something must have changed this is what you call a facelift meaning most of the tweaks are cosmetic but you have to look very hard to see them it now has slightly different headlights the previous car had L-shaped drls while these are now in a simpler straight line this model now has the afalter back badge on the Bonnet instead of the Mercedes three-pointed star and at the back the rear lights have been updated with a new design aside from that it uses the same wheel options the same tires and the same paint colors somewhat disappointing maybe because this might be the only facelift where a car manufacturer hasn’t actually updated the face luckily there are a fair few changes on the inside let’s start with the steering wheel that’s new this is actually the wheel you get on the E63 among other high-end 

AMG models and it looks great a lot better than the kind of fake metallic effect on the previous steering wheel there is a problem with this wheel though and that is that some of these buttons are capacitive and they’re very easy to press accidentally when you’re driving for example the volume button is very easy to slide up and down by accident you can call people by accident you can activate the cruise control by accident looks great but usability wise not perfect also it’s got the latest version of mercedes-benz’s mbux system this infotainment system but with a big change now it’s controlled almost entirely by touchscreen or via the capacitive buttons on the steering wheel in the past this had a mouse trackpad on the center console and they’ve gotten rid of that and they’ve just left a kind of empty Gap now and I don’t quite know what the purpose of this particular this space is because it’s not big enough for a mobile phone certainly not my phone it’s not secure enough for your spare change and it’s not big enough for any cups because you’ve got cup holders just in front of that it’s a slightly awkward design 

New Mercedes-AMG A45 S Review: Better Than Ever? | 4K

and I can’t quite work out what it’s for elsewhere these seats are quite nice very supportive they look good I wouldn’t personally go for this yellow effect the leather not the highest quality in the world but it’s possible is it possible actually on a 63 Grand car not sure but you’ve got 64 different ambient light colors to choose from and generally it’s an okay cabin certainly among the best in the hot hatch sector a quick word on practicality and build quality the rear is pretty spacious the boot is larger than what you get in the new C63 and the perceived build quality is a little questionable in places for example on the fake air intake at the front not to mention the Aero kit which looks great but especially with that rear wing is a little bit too wobbly for my liking is it befitting a car at this price point I’ll let you decide but I’ll tell you what is befitting the performance [Music] the engine in the a45s is the legendary m139 still the most powerful two liter production engine in the world I’ll recap the stats for you 421 horsepower 500 newton meters north of 62 and 3.9 and a V-Max of around 170 miles an hour the pork it’s incredible in this car the acceleration regardless of what you’re doing or where you’re doing it or what the weather’s like it’s outrageous there isn’t another hot hatch that I can think of certainly not one made today that shifts as quickly as this thing it’s a beast [Music] one of the coolest things about this car I think is the sound it makes especially on the inside have a listen to this oh you get these pops and bangs 

on the downshift on the up shift I say the sound is good on the inside because I’ve spoken to my cameraman and he says that it doesn’t sound amazing on the outside so clearly what they’ve done here is they’ve upped their game when it comes to making fake noise from the speakers rear so it does a fantastic job of pretending that it’s making actual noise when in reality it’s not [Applause] but I’m actually not mad at that because so many cars I’ve virtually silent these days actually having a car that makes some form of noise but it’s a bit refreshing really even if it isn’t real [Music] power flows through that very impressive eight-speed dual clutch gearbox which has panels that feel good and are mostly responsive shift up and down the ratios when it first came out the A45 felt a little bit flat-footed compared to the best rivals for example the golf GTR I think would run rings around the A45 it just didn’t quite engage you quite as much in the bends but over time amg’s actually improve this car and now it’s a lot of fun in the corners it doesn’t feel quite as alive in the hands as a front-wheel drive hot hatch is a little bit of understeer when you push towards the limits but there’s a surprising amount of 

feel in the steering it’s actually a car that rewards you the more you push it the faster you drive it the better it becomes [Applause] I think the chassis is quite playful as well if you go looking for it there’s a little bit of liftoff oversteer but importantly this is a car that can also power over steer amg’s formatted plus all-wheel drive system can send 50 of the power to the rear and then send a hundred percent of that 50 to one side or the other to allow you to actually get a little bit of oversteer in the bends or just drive it through a corner and make it feel a lot more rear biased than a lot of cars in its class I think that’s one of the things I love about the A45 it’s got its own feel it doesn’t feel anything like a Focus ST or a Golf GTI it’s its own breed of hot hatch it’s Unique you’ve got to give credit where it’s due because let’s face it this isn’t amg’s domain they went from competing with the likes of BMW M and Porsche to deciding one day that they wanted to compete with the likes of Renault sport or Ford with their St brand or Golf gtis and even though they didn’t nail it first time out the A45 evolved got better and what we’ve ended up with is this amazing hot hatch that is like nothing else it’s brutally fast faster than anything else that 

you’d consider a rival and also it’s tremendously fun to drive and the new A45 hasn’t changed but then it didn’t need to it still has the same adaptive dampers that allow for decent comfort in the softest setting yet a firmer but still very drivable setup in sport Sport Plus and race I guess you could be slightly disappointed in the fact that Mercedes haven’t really gone to town with its latest version of the A45 if you’ve already driven an A45 or you already own one there really isn’t any excuse for you to go and buy this over what you’ve already seen [Music] still exists because rumor has it the Mercedes will actually kill off the A-Class in a couple of years time this might be the last update to the A45 we’ll ever see and that would be a real shame because it is still to this day one of my favorite hot hatches and in modern times it’s one of my favorite AMG Cars full stop more engaging and more fun even than the new C63 if you’re looking for a compact car with plenty of power tons of Engagement and lots of Personality there aren’t many better than this foreign